A Collection
by chilerelleno
Summary: A series of one-shots, mostly inspired by songs.


p style="margin: 0px; color: #222222; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 16px;""Would you honor me with this dance?"/p  
p style="margin: 1rem 0px 0px; color: #222222; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 16px;"A green eye opened, and Ciel brightened./p  
p style="margin: 1rem 0px 0px; color: #222222; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 16px;"He lifted the blankets off his almost-wife, gingerly unwrapping her. They had put her in her night dress, a white affair that offset her pale skin./p  
p style="margin: 1rem 0px 0px; color: #222222; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 16px;""I don't think I can do it," Elizabeth murmured almost incomprehensibly, as if he had woken her from a fever dream. She let out a cough that rung deep in her chest./p  
p style="margin: 1rem 0px 0px; color: #222222; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 16px;""We can go slow. Your choice."/p  
p style="margin: 1rem 0px 0px; color: #222222; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 16px;"Ciel clasped her hand./p  
p style="margin: 1rem 0px 0px; color: #222222; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 16px;"He could understand that she didn't want to move. Until she decided what she wanted, he'd hold her like this./p  
p style="margin: 1rem 0px 0px; color: #222222; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 16px;"Her fingers trembled in his grasp like dead leaves being shifted by cold autumn breeze. That season reminded Ciel of changes, bad ones./p  
p style="margin: 1rem 0px 0px; color: #222222; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 16px;"Lost time, violence. And the world condoned it with the way it turned its landscape on its head to match. All these years later, it continued. It wasn't like Hell, Ciel's new home. That place never stayed the same, because the demons that inhabited it couldn't endure the eternity they were cursed to live./p  
p style="margin: 1rem 0px 0px; color: #222222; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 16px;"Somehow, this slow death his cousin was experiencing was worse. It never ended, but yet promised some sort of sweet quietude if she just remained strong and didn't lose faith. She didn't know it, but there waited for her on the other side judgment by a wrathful God. Perhaps if she passed the test, so too would be there for her the tortuous home for the lost and wandering: Heaven./p  
p style="margin: 1rem 0px 0px; color: #222222; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 16px;""What are you going to make me do?" came the quiet, but fiery question./p  
p style="margin: 1rem 0px 0px; color: #222222; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 16px;"Ciel smiled./p  
p style="margin: 1rem 0px 0px; color: #222222; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 16px;""A Viennese waltz. Remember?" He cleared his throat. "Does that mean you want to?"/p  
p style="margin: 1rem 0px 0px; color: #222222; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 16px;"A long moment passed in silence. He watched her for a response, and it was just as he was turning his neck to check the time that he saw her nod, weak and slight./p  
p style="margin: 1rem 0px 0px; color: #222222; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 16px;"He helped her up into a sitting position. In some ways, she looked just as she had when she was a teenager. The soft cheeks, the delicate wrists. She was still his girl, and always would be./p  
p style="margin: 1rem 0px 0px; color: #222222; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 16px;""At least it's not a polka or some swing thing," she said finally, refusing to look up at him. Long, stringy grey hair hung in her face the way it might for a ragdoll./p  
p style="margin: 1rem 0px 0px; color: #222222; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 16px;"In that instant, looking as she did, Ciel decided that nothing could take this moment from him./p  
p style="margin: 1rem 0px 0px; color: #222222; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 16px;"No matter that downcast look, no matter her condition, no matter their past./p  
p style="margin: 1rem 0px 0px; color: #222222; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 16px;"He wouldn't let - couldn't let - it be ruined./p  
p style="margin: 1rem 0px 0px; color: #222222; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 16px;"emJust one dance./em/p  
p style="margin: 1rem 0px 0px; color: #222222; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 16px;"She put one foot after the other onto the floor, hesitant to stand./p  
p style="margin: 1rem 0px 0px; color: #222222; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 16px;""You can lean on me," Ciel said. "But we don't have to do this if all's not right."/p  
p style="margin: 1rem 0px 0px; color: #222222; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 16px;"Elizabeth stuck her tongue out, and he tried to keep himself from laughing. He succeeded by biting his lip and breathing slow./p  
p style="margin: 1rem 0px 0px; color: #222222; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 16px;"After a beat, she held out her shivering arms. Taking the hint, he pulled her up easily to her feet, and she held fast to his shoulders./p  
p style="margin: 1rem 0px 0px; color: #222222; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 16px;""Just promise me you'll look me in the eye at least once tonight," the boy added, a bit of a challenge in his voice./p  
p style="margin: 1rem 0px 0px; color: #222222; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 16px;"A hint of a laugh hung in the air./p  
p style="margin: 1rem 0px 0px; color: #222222; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 16px;""Maybe," she teased./p  
p style="margin: 1rem 0px 0px; color: #222222; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 16px;""Like looking at the carpet better?"/p  
p style="margin: 1rem 0px 0px; color: #222222; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 16px;""It isn't the original. They installed a new one ten years ago."/p  
p style="margin: 1rem 0px 0px; color: #222222; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 16px;""As fun as discussing the history of the carpet of the Glendinning Manor is, I believe you promised me something," Ciel prompted. His former fiancée sighed, and gestured toward the open space by the armoire./p  
p style="margin: 1rem 0px 0px; color: #222222; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 16px;"emThat's it/em./p  
p style="margin: 1rem 0px 0px; color: #222222; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 16px;"He backed up, keeping an eye on both his partner and the piece of furniture./p  
p style="margin: 1rem 0px 0px; color: #222222; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 16px;"Elizabeth's legs wobbled. She dug her nails into the boy, gripping him for dear life. Although she kept her eyes low, her expression conveyed everything - her turned up mouth, her cinched eyebrows./p  
p style="margin: 1rem 0px 0px; color: #222222; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 16px;"She was afraid./p  
p style="margin: 1rem 0px 0px; color: #222222; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 16px;"He didn't like her shyness, her hesitancy. Had age warped her personality into something bent and haggard?/p  
p style="margin: 1rem 0px 0px; color: #222222; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 16px;"Ciel stretched her arm out in the appropriate style and began to spin./p  
p style="margin: 1rem 0px 0px; color: #222222; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 16px;""What troubles you, Lizzy?" he asked as he put his right foot forward./p  
p style="margin: 1rem 0px 0px; color: #222222; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 16px;""Keep your attention to the dance," she replied. "I remember how you could trip over your own feet."/p  
p style="margin: 1rem 0px 0px; color: #222222; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 16px;""At the present time I think I'm much be -"/p  
p style="margin: 1rem 0px 0px; color: #222222; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 16px;""I have to keep my concentration too, you know."/p  
p style="margin: 1rem 0px 0px; color: #222222; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 16px;""Would you mind if I count, then?" Ciel asked./p  
p style="margin: 1rem 0px 0px; color: #222222; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 16px;"Elizabeth shrugged, a sort of dewiness coming over her features./p  
p style="margin: 1rem 0px 0px; color: #222222; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 16px;"The boy brushed a lock of hair out of her face and tucked it behind her ear. He didn't lose a bit of time./p  
p style="margin: 1rem 0px 0px; color: #222222; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 16px;""One, two, three," he whispered. "Two, two, three."/p  
p style="margin: 1rem 0px 0px; color: #222222; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 16px;"He was amazed at his almost-wife's muscle memory. She missed a few steps here and there, but he adapted to her movements swiftly, careful to keep to the beat./p  
p style="margin: 1rem 0px 0px; color: #222222; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 16px;"Yet although she managed - albeit slowly - to keep up, she seemed a bit dazed, as if half asleep. He didn't want to drag her along, but he lead fiercely, his feet rotating in a soundless blur./p  
p style="margin: 1rem 0px 0px; color: #222222; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 16px;"emWake up./em/p  
p style="margin: 1rem 0px 0px; color: #222222; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 16px;"emWake/em up./p  
p style="margin: 1rem 0px 0px; color: #222222; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 16px;""Elizabeth," he said. He would stop if she couldn't righten herself. "How are you?"/p  
p style="margin: 1rem 0px 0px; color: #222222; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 16px;"Demons were little better than dogs when it came to detecting disease and how long a person had to live. He didn't dare venture a guess as to her state./p  
p style="margin: 1rem 0px 0px; color: #222222; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 16px;"He slowed for her sake./p  
p style="margin: 1rem 0px 0px; color: #222222; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 16px;""No need to do that. I was just starting to get comfortable." She turned her head, but didn't look at him./p  
p style="margin: 1rem 0px 0px; color: #222222; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 16px;"The boy hesitated. He could feel her frailty. She drooped like a dying rose./p  
p style="margin: 1rem 0px 0px; color: #222222; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 16px;""We can stop any time," he said./p  
p style="margin: 1rem 0px 0px; color: #222222; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 16px;"She shook her head./p  
p style="margin: 1rem 0px 0px; color: #222222; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 16px;""No, Ciel. I was promised this. I can do it. Sick though I may be, I will make it through." She patted him on the shoulder and straightened herself out, her legs begrudgingly following suit./p  
p style="margin: 1rem 0px 0px; color: #222222; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 16px;"Polio./p  
p style="margin: 1rem 0px 0px; color: #222222; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 16px;"It stiffened her calves with every movement, made her arms jerk. Her body groaned with the effort./p  
p style="margin: 1rem 0px 0px; color: #222222; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 16px;"The boy nodded as if he understood, though a blue note of confusion tainted his eagerness to continue their midnight rendezvous./p  
p style="margin: 1rem 0px 0px; color: #222222; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 16px;"Time had turned her timid, with generosity had come illness - but for a sad little waltz that doubtlessly reminded her of her decline, she would forge on. For her sake, was it? His?/p  
p style="margin: 1rem 0px 0px; color: #222222; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 16px;"Again he had met her stubbornness. It knew neither black nor white, sense from credulity, nor reason from daydreams./p  
p style="margin: 1rem 0px 0px; color: #222222; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 16px;"He continued, though thoughts still haunted him./p  
p style="margin: 1rem 0px 0px; color: #222222; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 16px;"When he was a man he had acquainted himself with the idea that humans cling to certain things to make them feel in control; perhaps holding her ground was Elizabeth's way of not flying off into a sea of disturbing thoughts. It made her, her and would keep her firmly attached to the trappings of this world and not the next./p  
p style="margin: 1rem 0px 0px; color: #222222; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 16px;"It kept her from dying./p  
p style="margin: 1rem 0px 0px; color: #222222; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 16px;""You missed a count," she commented, a sly grin slipping onto her lips./p  
p style="margin: 1rem 0px 0px; color: #222222; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 16px;"Ciel didn't scoff. He just spun lightly, criss-crossing his legs and doubling back, taking her with him. "emThree/em, two, three," he emphasized, carrying her slightly faster. She giggled./p  
p style="margin: 1rem 0px 0px; color: #222222; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 16px;"As they turned, her smile grew all the wider, revealing two neat rows of yellowing teeth./p  
p style="margin: 1rem 0px 0px; color: #222222; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 16px;"He responded in kind, the corners of his lips twisting up into a wicked smirk./p  
p style="margin: 1rem 0px 0px; color: #222222; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 16px;""emFour/em, two, three."/p  
p style="margin: 1rem 0px 0px; color: #222222; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 16px;""Faster, Ciel, faster!" she screeched./p  
p style="margin: 1rem 0px 0px; color: #222222; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 16px;""emOne, /emtwo, three."/p  
p style="margin: 1rem 0px 0px; color: #222222; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 16px;"He didn't want to fight with her, not like last night. No one was here to put a stop their messy entanglements, which still ballooned like they had all those years ago - a snigger here, a snappish comment there, a sniffle, a bark, a yelp, a cry, then the whole jungle loosed./p  
p style="margin: 1rem 0px 0px; color: #222222; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 16px;"Despite how he thought he had matured, he still couldn't hold back when a particularly strong opinion bubbled up to the surface. Couldn't contain himself when his pride had been insulted. If anything, he was more dangerous now: he had lost all his dignity by losing to That Boy, and his insatiable need to have a purpose drove a new hunger that tore through him harder, faster and stronger than any desire for the soul of a man on the precipice of defeat could./p  
p style="margin: 1rem 0px 0px; color: #222222; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 16px;"He wanted release./p  
p style="margin: 1rem 0px 0px; color: #222222; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 16px;"He wanted blood./p  
p style="margin: 1rem 0px 0px; color: #222222; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 16px;"He wanted -/p  
p style="margin: 1rem 0px 0px; color: #222222; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 16px;"emThwack./em/p  
p style="margin: 1rem 0px 0px; color: #222222; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 16px;""Ciel, you went too fast."/p  
p style="margin: 1rem 0px 0px; color: #222222; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 16px;"Someone must have tripped and knocked the both of them off their feet. Ciel rubbed his head gently - he had smacked a ledge on the armoire hard - and lifted himself off the floor./p  
p style="margin: 1rem 0px 0px; color: #222222; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 16px;""My lungs, my legs -"/p  
p style="margin: 1rem 0px 0px; color: #222222; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 16px;"Before he could grab her, Elizabeth went into a fit. Clawing at her throat, she gagged on air. Her eyes screamed out a single tone of warning, bright and fearful, before she collapsed on her side./p  
p style="margin: 1rem 0px 0px; color: #222222; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 16px;""Lizzy!" Ciel shouted. Alarmed, he shook her. "Lizzy!"/p  
p style="margin: 1rem 0px 0px; color: #222222; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 16px;"He crawled up beside her and peeled open an eyelid. She didn't move the organ on her own, but she was still breathing in spurts./p  
p style="margin: 1rem 0px 0px; color: #222222; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 16px;"She needed an iron lung. She needed - she needed -/p  
p style="margin: 1rem 0px 0px; color: #222222; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 16px;""Come now, don't do this to me." He sat up and pulled her close, propping her up. She sputtered./p  
p style="margin: 1rem 0px 0px; color: #222222; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 16px;"The cold December wind blew outside, carrying with it flurries. Despite himself, the boy shivered. He shouldn't have asked her to do this. If he hadn't asked her to do this, she wouldn't have felt sick. Any other wish, any other time -/p  
p style="margin: 1rem 0px 0px; color: #222222; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 16px;""Ciel -"/p  
p style="margin: 1rem 0px 0px; color: #222222; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 16px;"He snapped out of his self-pitying reverie./p  
p style="margin: 1rem 0px 0px; color: #222222; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 16px;""We can still dance, you know" - cough - "if you'd like. I'm fine. In fact" - cough - "I'd be very pleased if you'd allow me to continue. I know how you can be." She lifted an ivory hand to his shoulder and let out a shuddering, rough chuckle. She smelled of dry sinew, or something eking out its existence on a scorching hot road in the middle of a Bengali summer./p  
p style="margin: 1rem 0px 0px; color: #222222; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 16px;""Elizabeth," he began harshly. "I'm going to get the nurse."/p  
p style="margin: 1rem 0px 0px; color: #222222; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 16px;"A wary eye danced across his gaze, not meeting the intensity of his stare./p  
p style="margin: 1rem 0px 0px; color: #222222; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 16px;""You promised."/p  
p style="margin: 1rem 0px 0px; color: #222222; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 16px;"Her chest stiffened as she tried to breathe deeper; her body had begun to fight her./p  
p style="margin: 1rem 0px 0px; color: #222222; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 16px;""I believe you stipulated that we dance emone/em dance and that -"/p  
p style="margin: 1rem 0px 0px; color: #222222; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 16px;""You're so silly. You used to be a businessman. You dealt with contracts. You" - cough - "know their nature."/p  
p style="margin: 1rem 0px 0px; color: #222222; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 16px;"Ciel froze./p  
p style="margin: 1rem 0px 0px; color: #222222; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 16px;""This is my contract. Dance with me until I fall asleep," she demanded./p  
p style="margin: 1rem 0px 0px; color: #222222; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 16px;"He chortled, startling her./p  
p style="margin: 1rem 0px 0px; color: #222222; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 16px;"Such a loaded phrase. As if she needed to say it to get his attention. He twirled around his finger a bit of her hair that had fallen out place, a leer spreading from one end of his face to the other in the slow, secretive way of demons. He didn't mind staying in this position all night, just taking in the way her eyes creased and the lines that appeared when a smile tugged at her lips./p  
p style="margin: 1rem 0px 0px; color: #222222; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 16px;""Oh Lizzy," he sighed. He found he couldn't keep to his strict ways around her, even in death. "Do you really want to risk dying? We already fell down once." He prodded her side, and she giggled, but didn't answer his question./p  
p style="margin: 1rem 0px 0px; color: #222222; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 16px;"emThis is my contract./em/p  
p style="margin: 1rem 0px 0px; color: #222222; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 16px;"The words rang in his mind like a chant, a plea. He couldn't deny them./p  
p style="margin: 1rem 0px 0px; color: #222222; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 16px;"He stood up wordlessly./p  
p style="margin: 1rem 0px 0px; color: #222222; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 16px;"Elizabeth, with a bit of difficulty, held out her arms once more./p  
p style="margin: 1rem 0px 0px; color: #222222; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 16px;"Ciel resumed counting./p  
p style="margin: 1rem 0px 0px; color: #222222; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 16px;"For a while, neither said anything to the other. They lost themselves in the slow twirls and meticulous heel-toe rocking, the boy's hushed voice guiding them through each misstep and moment of doubt. As the clock edged nearer and nearer to two, the old woman danced away her age with the person she had so dearly protected when he couldn't himself./p  
p style="margin: 1rem 0px 0px; color: #222222; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 16px;"It was pleasant, except for the ghosts of the argument they'd had yesterday which flew round his mind, trying to scare him into reliving the past. As a boy turned demon, one sentenced to look forever the embodiment of his mistakes, this was a quiet needling torture he couldn't stand./p  
p style="margin: 1rem 0px 0px; color: #222222; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 16px;"It had started with her hinting at loneliness./p  
p style="margin: 1rem 0px 0px; color: #222222; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 16px;"em"Whiny, ungrateful, spoilt, childish..." /emhe'd said back to "Despicable of someone of your rank."/em/p  
p style="margin: 1rem 0px 0px; color: #222222; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 16px;"Then he went after for what she had, and he could no longer./p  
p style="margin: 1rem 0px 0px; color: #222222; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 16px;"After all, how could he, so base and vile, appreciate the way her soul had stayed so sweet after years of undue harshness? He could only hunger for it./p  
p style="margin: 1rem 0px 0px; color: #222222; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 16px;"It was foolish./p  
p style="margin: 1rem 0px 0px; color: #222222; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 16px;"He should apologize. It was the gentlemanly thing to do./p  
p style="margin: 1rem 0px 0px; color: #222222; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 16px;"No, it was the right thing to do./p  
p style="margin: 1rem 0px 0px; color: #222222; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 16px;"emRise up, you fool, out of the depths and say the words that you have trained yourself not to speak./em/p  
p style="margin: 1rem 0px 0px; color: #222222; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 16px;""Lizzy, I -"/p  
p style="margin: 1rem 0px 0px; color: #222222; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 16px;""Shh. It's so peaceful. Don't ruin it."/p  
p style="margin: 1rem 0px 0px; color: #222222; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 16px;""But this is important - understand? Last night we got into that big row and I didn't mean half of what I said. It was all rubbish. It was me shooting from the hip, like I tend to do, but I shouldn't have then. And you didn't deserve those remarks, and -"/p  
p style="margin: 1rem 0px 0px; color: #222222; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 16px;""Oh Ciel, it's" - cough - "it's alright. I'm just glad you're here, back from the grave, to see me."/p  
p style="margin: 1rem 0px 0px; color: #222222; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 16px;""But -"/p  
p style="margin: 1rem 0px 0px; color: #222222; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 16px;"She began coughing again, a tight, wet number that sent her leaning heavily on him./p  
p style="margin: 1rem 0px 0px; color: #222222; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 16px;"He would never offer her a deal she couldn't refuse. If tonight was the night, he would let her slip into sweet, dignified death on her own, without any consequences. He couldn't allow her to live damned as he had for all these years, made to live off of others' suffering. If there were ever a chance to do anything rash and stupid, he had missed it by decades - this he thanked his younger, rage-fueled self for as Elizabeth's breathing became labored and irregular./p  
p style="margin: 1rem 0px 0px; color: #222222; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 16px;"He stopped mid-step and held her close, careful not to block her airway. She waved her hands meekly. He pushed them down./p  
p style="margin: 1rem 0px 0px; color: #222222; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 16px;"After another bout, he walked her over to the modern bed and sat her down, watching for any sign of improvement. Her chest seemed to be fluttering, and her skin had taken on a grey-purple pallor. He decided it was time to call the nurse./p  
p style="margin: 1rem 0px 0px; color: #222222; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 16px;"But he couldn't just leave her there./p  
p style="margin: 1rem 0px 0px; color: #222222; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 16px;"This, however, conflicted with the promise./p  
p style="margin: 1rem 0px 0px; color: #222222; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 16px;"Wavering, waffling, fumbling, fooling. This wasn't the mark of a person that could handle himself; forget about lineage, forget about the rearing. It was unacceptable for anyone./p  
p style="margin: 1rem 0px 0px; color: #222222; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 16px;""You're going to die if I don't get you the proper assistance," Ciel bargained, hoping to shake her out of the stress that her lungs caused her. Really, he was hoping to force himself into action, too./p  
p style="margin: 1rem 0px 0px; color: #222222; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 16px;"It didn't work./p  
p style="margin: 1rem 0px 0px; color: #222222; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 16px;""To your melancholy, to the way you play with people, to the lengths you would go to be seen just so -"/p  
p style="margin: 1rem 0px 0px; color: #222222; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 16px;""What on earth are you on about?" Ciel said, though his frustration died out halfway through./p  
p style="margin: 1rem 0px 0px; color: #222222; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 16px;""No matter where I run, the roads always lead back to you."/p  
p style="margin: 1rem 0px 0px; color: #222222; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 16px;"Ciel didn't know what to say. She wasn't making sense. He loosened his grip on her, realizing he could be hurting her./p  
p style="margin: 1rem 0px 0px; color: #222222; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 16px;""I should've just moved on, but I -" She breathed, then after a moment said, "I wanted to walk. Broken legs, broken body. I'm worthless."/p  
p style="margin: 1rem 0px 0px; color: #222222; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 16px;"Ciel couldn't help but think Elizabeth hadn't said what she'd really wanted to say, but he held his tongue./p  
p style="margin: 1rem 0px 0px; color: #222222; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 16px;""But I couldn't stand the way we left things, so I" - cough - "asked for the only thing that could calm the hallucinations. One dance to make it real, one dance to make it right."/p  
p style="margin: 1rem 0px 0px; color: #222222; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 16px;"With supernatural quickness, Ciel sat her up as she began to wheeze almost uncontrollably./p  
p style="margin: 1rem 0px 0px; color: #222222; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 16px;"He balked as he waited for it to pass. Hoped for it to pass./p  
p style="margin: 1rem 0px 0px; color: #222222; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 16px;"When it had, at least as much as it could with her breathing reduced to a rattling, he knelt down beside her./p  
p style="margin: 1rem 0px 0px; color: #222222; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 16px;""Then I will do it. But only if you can confirm you'd like me to. This is a difficult path you're trying to embark on."/p  
p style="margin: 1rem 0px 0px; color: #222222; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 16px;"More hushed than a funeral came, "Do it."/p  
p style="margin: 1rem 0px 0px; color: #222222; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 16px;"He shortened and simplified the innocent, uncomplicated dance to two steps with no turns./p  
p style="margin: 1rem 0px 0px; color: #222222; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 16px;"They paced like this for about fifteen minutes./p  
p style="margin: 1rem 0px 0px; color: #222222; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 16px;"He kept going for a few after that so as if to satisfy her, though she had drifted off into the unknown as his gaze flickered from his old-fashioned boots to her button-up gown to the wrinkles lining her forehead./p  
p style="margin: 1rem 0px 0px; color: #222222; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 16px;"Her breathing had slowed, his heart outpacing hers. At some point she fell limply into his arms, and he continued to hold her./p  
p style="margin: 1rem 0px 0px; color: #222222; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 16px;"The snow never did stop falling./p 


End file.
